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People, keep asking me about the sound of Melquíades and I feel strange as I really can’t not explain how it sounds. It does not make any sense as I initiated this thread with the objective to explain or at least to inform about the Melquíades’ sound but the more I involve into understanding of this sound the more I’m learning that I can’t not explain or describe this sound and it has no reference to what we in audio are accustom to comprehend.

First of al: Melquíades sound very deferent form any other amps that am familiar. You see, all other amplifiers juts sound better or worth, do certain things better or worth, and the very best of them do those things in the best possible ways. With Melquíades this dose not happen because it juts do not do the “know typical things”. I meant that Melquíades has no entry point for any PURE AUDIO evolution assessment. It juts produce sound, which is so radical departure form typical amplifiers sound that when you hear it for a first time you will not understand what is happening. The state between music do sound and do not sound is so peaceful and so not abusive that it even frighten. We in audio are not really accustomed to perceive music in non-amplified fashion and when our audios play we always identify that we hear sonic reproduction. Melquíades so much STRIP FROM SOUND ANY SIGNS OF REPRODUCTION ART-EFFECTS that Music in a listening room actually does not sound as it being amplified (and please do not even think that it sound “clean” because you make even my Cat laughing)

In addition to all of this the Melquíades Sound has an extraordinary sense of softness and elasticity but at the same time it maintains a high contrast, speed, humongous dynamic and a superb transients response. Actually I said it and begin to question if it’s so. The problem is that I’m, being a transient response and dynamics freak, (have you seen any high-sensitively person who would not?) when I listen Melquíades I never was able to judge how fast of how dynamic it is. It has that remarkable ultra-softness but while it dose “it” the Melquíades for whatever reason maintain so “interesting” dynamic, acceleration and speed that I never questioned it or even paid my attention to any deficiency or even to the any “events” in that domain. Be advised that I can write many volume books describing how different amplifiers screw the vibrant quality of music (including the ML2 which dose it order of magnitude better then many others) but with Melquíades the vibrant-dynamic aspect is completely out of attention (It is what identified as a “Beach Effect”).

More then this, this damn Melquíades actually has a mind of his own and he actually reacts to music in it’s own way. It has almost a dynamically no “none-linearity”. The amp actually knows when and how to play music and this is absolutely unbelievable. It sort of self adjust volume and the speed IMITATING HOW THE NONE-AMPLIFIED MUSIC SOUND. This all deliver a phenomenal sense of realism and very severely reduce, up to point of abolition, of any listening efforts and listening labor.

Another amassing aspects, and absolutely not anticipated that Melquíades do have inside the means to inject into Music the X-factor that I described in the “Preamplifiers: keys to mystery” thread. The funny part that scale of that X-factor is way larger then L2 does but it has NO negative consequences the L2 inject into sound. In fact to hear the introduction of X-factor without the screwing that L2 does to sound it quiet of amassing experience. I do not know if it is Melquíades dose more or it is the bad things that L2 does mask out most of L2’s X-factor benefits but the L2 is for sale now: when L2 drive the Melquíades there is no X-factors benefits anymore. How and why the Melquíades dose it is a mystery not only for me but also for anyone who was evolved into the project.

Furthermore, Melquíades has a certain sense of endlessness in whatever it does (it is when ML2 was severely inadequate). Whatever Melquíades do to notes, they have direct pointers to something infinite and none-restricted. The process of sounding is not relay distinct form the process of none-sounding and notes do not present as sound-no-sound sandwich. Rather the Melquíades Sound pretend as an organic melt when you dive into the ocean of mixed sonic sensations and let the musicality to abuse your senses. Interesting the Melquíades does not take advantage of your vulnerability (here is where the Lamm ML2 acts as a Gestapo interrogator!!! – and this was one of the major reasons of my dissatisfaction with Lamm ML2 since 2001 when I begun to recognize it). Instead of being mad with own apparent on shallow surface strength (here is where ML2 replicates the behaved of own creator) the Melquíades lead your gently and respectfully, treating the presented music with a great sense of precociousness and courteousness.  It is amassing but at the very same time, if the musicality demands it, the Melquíades suddenly converts itself into a bitten in ass Godzilla and present the level of testerone similar to my Lamm ML2 would be able to do only if I drive ML2 directly coupled with the generators of the Hoover Damn!  I remember a year or so ago Dima have informed me that he had detected this quality and he purely attribute this to the unique sonic quality of this Russian tune of his. (Do not hold me in suspense - there is not tricks in the Melquíades – it is a regular class “A” with fixed bias, well the “fixed” in Melquíades’ case should be spelled as “fixxxed”) Anyhow, I can’t judge about the reasons of the abovementioned effect but this “intelligent allocation of amplification wisdom” is absolutely extraordinary and it creates, combined with everything else, a mind-boggling effect of REALLY OF PRESENTATION.

Another interesting observation is that Melquíades do not reproduce frequencies. I mean it has a completely different and absolutely not heard by my before way to present and the frequency ranges. If does not reproduces a single note but it presents it ALONG WITH THE ENTIRE FREQUENCY RAGE holding the sonic mental projection to the beginning of that endlessness range. I think it is partially because it has absolutely insulting LF stricture, radically different form anything than I heard in audio.

You see, it dose not has a better bass but it has it very STRUCTURALLY different LF. Also it’s bass VERY differently penetrate into the entire frequency range including the tweeters (and my tweeters are sitting at transition slope at 65kHz) I use the $30K worth Lamm ML2 with my woofer tower not because I am reach Moron but because the Lamms objectively produced LF that is absolutely unmatchable by the hundreds amplifiers the I am intimately familiar with. The Melquíades not juts informed that ML2’s bass is not serious but also educated the ML2 has a fundamentally NOT as good bass as it COULD be. I meant Melquíades has ABSOLUTELY DIFFERENT BASS and the bass of ML2 can’t be evaluated even at the same scale with the Melquíades LF. Here is the interesting part: after I heard the Melquíades LF I took a function generator and scope and tested the ML2’s and Melquíades bottom end. The ML2 has way more potent measurements at the bottom, however sonically it was really out of the game and even subjectively the Melquíades sound at least at 10H lower then ML2, not to mention much greater scene of dynamic. Actually even with not “an ultimate” transformer the Melquíades bass subjectively do not feel any bottom and all. I rely mean it! It is very much like “live” sound when LF is ending up with volume goes down but not with the frequency truncation. In fact after I heard the Melquíades LF I commission myself to a 3-chanal Super Melquíades project when the LF channels will be optimize for sub 3000Hz performance and will pump a full Melquíades 15W down to 9Hz-10Hz

Anyhow, it was my fist draft about the Melquíades sound. I will continue this writing later on when I got more time and intentions to wake up my Cat with clicking of the keyboard….

BTW, one more. Last week, I decided for a fan to expose some guys that I know to the effect of Melquíadesinisation. There were 3 guys who heard the amps. All of the installations were sub-acceptable from a perspective of my modest judgment anyhow the reaction was very interesting. One guy was complexly lost and did not understand what he heard at all. It was also a completely knew to the system and it was a system which did require VERY “acquired” taste or at least a lot of convincing to yourself that the taste was “acquired”. Another guy, (quite experiences fellow) did recognize that it was absolutely different sound. He admitted a very strong, unseen before level of realism, but he was not able to give deeper into the Melquíades capacity because I he was a heavily conditioned. The third guy actually was able get the message that I was trying to deliver to people via exposing them to the Melquíadesinisation but he unfortunately has his system by-amped and ~500Hz (he thought that it was 100Hz) and the Melquíades was able to deal unfortunately only with the midrange drivers. However, I have to say that I was very pleased with what Melquíades converted his room into. So was he. (The Very first time in my life I actual heard the damn Fostex singing!) 

Still, none of the people for whom I showed what Melquíades is capable of were able to grasp to what they where exposed. I think in a few week I will try some my experiments with some audio people that I know in my own home and I will see if the process of education a dark public about an “absolute capacity of audio methods” would go in my own listening room more productively and effectively … :-)

Rgs.
Romy the Cat

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